The Urban Mosaic The Human Mosaic Chapter 11. Culture Regions Urban culture regions Cultural...

The Urban Mosaic

The Human Mosaic

Chapter 11

Culture Regions

Urban culture regions Cultural diffusion in the city The cultural ecology of the city Cultural integration and models of the city Urban landscapes

Introduction

Like society, the city is composed of many different groups

Theme of culture regions can be applied to those parts of the city where people live who share similar traits

Most city dwellers are intuitively aware of urban culture regions

Visual clues are important to distinguishing different urban culture regions

Social regions

Distinguishing between social culture regions and ethnic culture regions depends more on the researcher’s emphases and interests than on communities themselves

– Social region studies usually focus on socioeconomic traits, such as income, education, age, and family structure

– Ethnic region studies highlight traits such as language and migration history

– The two concepts overlap because there can be social regions within ethnic regions and vice versa

Social regions

One way to define social regions is to isolate one social trait and plot its distribution within the city

United States census is a common source for trait information– Census tracts are small enough to allow subtle

texture of social regions to show

Social regions

United States census is a common source for trait information– For example, the next slide shows rough distribution of income in

Berkeley, California Tracts with similar average incomes have been lumped together Show areas of high, middle and low income In a rough way correspond to social stratification in city High income areas in hilly east area, where white people dominate Lower-income areas are on flatlands, closer to bay-front industrial

areas, and made up of students and minorities– Similar mapping could be done using age, education, or

percentage of families below poverty level

Social regions

A visual check is often a simple first step in mapping social regions

Another approach is to correlate various social indicators

– Politicians have long known districts with certain demographic characteristics tend to vote certain ways

– Urban analysts look at the degree of correlation among factors such as income, occupation, age, and ethnicity

– Results can be translated into a pattern of multiple-factor urban social regions

Neighborhoods

Often used to describe small social regions where people with shared values and concerns interact daily

A conventional sociological explanation for neighborhoods is that people of similar values cluster together to reduce social conflict

– Where social consensus exists regarding such matters as home maintenance, child rearing, everyday behavior, and public order, there is little need to worry

– People who deviate from the consensus face social coercion

– Celebrates social homogeneity of small spatial communities

Neighborhoods

Increasingly, neighborhoods are found with more heterogeneity

The current concept of neighborhoods is more flexible

– Embraces traditional components of locality, such as geographic territoriality, political outlook, and shared economic characteristics

– Also embraces the consensus from both insiders and outsiders perception of a certain area as a “neighborhood”

Neighborhood: Montreal, Canada


This working class neighborhood is inhabited by descendents of nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish immigrants.

Here, much social activity takes place on the street.

The corner store, tavern, park, and Roman Catholic church are also nodes of activity.


Although the larger area is French, the Irish are bilingual.

On public holidays, the Irish fly the red and white, Canadian maple leaf flag, while the French post the blue and white, Quebec fleur-du-leis.


White, plastic chairs are found on the balconies of both groups because sitting outside and people-watching is a traditional Quebec pastime.

With shared values and concerns, these people interact daily in their neighborhood.

Neighborhoods

May be ethnically and socially diverse, yet think of itself as a social community sharing similar political concerns

– Hold neighborhood meetings to address these problems– Recognized by city hall as a legitimate group with political

standing– Neighborhood may only develop when a community

coalesces around a specific political issue– Cohesion may actually erode and wane as issue passes

Neighborhoods

Concept usually implies people have access to a permanent or semi-permanent place of residence– Increasingly in United States’ cities more people

are homeless– Divorced from ties of neighborhood– Nearly impossible to determine number of

homeless in United States

Neighborhoods

Concept usually implies people have access to a permanent or semi-permanent place of residence

– Definitions of homelessness vary Depends on criteria used and cultural context of particular

situation Does living in a friend’s house for more than a month

constitute a homeless condition? How permanent does a shelter have to be before it is a home?

– To some, home connotes a suburban middle-class house– To others, it refers to a room in a city-owned shelter

Neighborhoods

Homeless people are often not counted in census or other population counts– May be up to 3 million homeless persons in the

United States– Concentrated in downtown areas of large cities

Neighborhoods

Causes of homelessness are varied and complex– Many suffer from some type of disorder or handicap– Deprived of social networks provided by a permanent

neighborhood– Most cities have tried providing temporary shelters– Many homeless prefer to rely on their own social ties for

support in order to maintain some sense of personal pride and privacy

Neighborhoods

Neighborhood concept is central to cultural geography of cities

– Recognizes sentiment people have for a “place” and their attachment to it

– Recognizes how attachment becomes basis for ongoing social and political action

– Many — if not most — urbanites do not share this sense of neighborhood

– Urbanites live in perceptually undifferentiated residential areas

Culture Regions


Inner and outer city

Centralizing forces—those diffusion forces that result in residences, stores, and factories locating in the inner or central city

Decentralizing forces—those that result in activities locating outside the central city

Pattern of homes, neighborhoods, offices, shops, and factories in the city results from constant interplay of these two forces

Centralization

Economic advantages– Accessibility

Department stores located in the city center for greater accessibility to customers

Especially important before the automobile Streetcars were centered in the city Bakeries and dairies located there so daily deliveries

would be efficient

Centralization: Chicago, Illinois


Chicago’s origins derive from accessibility. Situated on Lake Michigan, it began as a prairie seaport for the agricultural Midwest and by 1856, was the focus of ten trunk lines. Industries and immigrant workers agglomerated in the central city. After the Great Fire of 1871, many industries relocated on the more spacious periphery and the downtown developed as a retail and financial center.


The 1885 invention of the skyscraper and the construction of elevated trains intensified downtown growth and by 1920, the pattern was set: Chicago was the nation’s retail and mail-order capital. This view is from the 1454’ Sears Tower to the 1127’John Hancock Tower.


The copper-roofed building on the Chicago River in the lower left is the Apparel and Merchandising Mart; the IBM building stands next to the round Marina towers; and the Chicago Temple, Daley Center and First National bank are at the lower right. Note the location of the tallest structures (and most costly land) close to the lake front, known as the Gold Coast. A transitional zone lies behind.

Centralization

Economic advantages– Agglomeration or clustering results in mutual benefits for

businesses Retail stores locate near one another to take advantage of pedestrian

traffic A large department store generates foot traffic, so nearby stores will

also benefit Historically, offices clustered together in the city center

– Need for communication before the telephone– Messengers hand-carried work of banks, insurance firms, lawyers, etc.– Still cluster together because of need for face-to-face communication– Take advantage of complicated support system that grows up in the

central city

Centralization

Social advantages– Strength of historical momentum should not be

underestimated Many activities remain in the central city because they began

there long ago Example of the financial district in San Francisco located on

Montgomery Street– Established in the gold rush of 1849– Area was the center of commercial action– Originally along the waterfront, later land-filling extended the

shoreline – Never moved it absolute location

Centralization

Social advantages– Prestige is a strong centralizing force

Important for advertising firms to have a New York Madison Avenue address

Important for a stockbroker to be on Wall Street Extends to many activities in cities of all sizes “Downtown lawyer” and “uptown banker” are examples

Centralization

Social advantages– Prestige is a strong centralizing force

High-income neighborhoods were located close to the downtown area

– This trend has weakened in North America– Downtown areas have become congested and noisy– Transportation has encouraged suburban residences– London and Paris still have very prestigious

neighborhoods directly in the downtown area

Centralization

Social advantages– Strongest social force for centralization has been

the desire to live near one’s employment Before development of the electric trolley in the 1880s,

most urban dwellers had little choice other than walking to work

Most people lived near the central city because that was where the jobs were

Even after electric streetcar lines many people continued to walk to work

Many could not afford housing in the new suburbs

Decentralization

The past 40 years witnessed massive changes in form and function of most Western cities

In the United States, suburbanization of residences and workplaces have created downtowns empty of economic vitality

Decentralization: Irvine, California


This corporate tower is part of Irvine Spectrum, a high-tech corridor about 35 miles southwest of Los Angeles. Focusing on the edge-cities of Irvine, Newport, and Costa Mesa, this is a region of master-planned communities, office


parks, giant malls, and lateral commuting that experienced phenomenal growth in the 1980s when decentralization became a major trend in North American urban development.

Decentralization

Geographer Neil Smith’s views– Processes of suburbanization and decline of inner

city are fundamentally linked Capital investment in suburbs often made possible by

disinvestment from central city Post-World War fl American investor found greater

returns on their money in new suburbs

– Refers to these processes as uneven development

Decentralization

Socioeconomic factors– Changes in accessibility have been a major reason for

decentralization Department stores now find customers have moved to the

suburbs People no longer shop downtown

– Other business have moved to the suburbs Food-processing plants move to minimize transportation costs Many find trucking more effective than railways because of

freeways Offices locate near airports so executive and salespeople can

fly in and out more easily

Decentralization

Socioeconomic factors– Agglomeration’s benefits have now become

liabilities in many downtown areas Rents increased as a result of high demand for space Congestion in the support system Traffic congestion — delivery to market time-consuming In some areas traffic moves slower than it did at the turn

of the century Employees may demand higher wages as

compensation for the inconveniences of central-city living

Decentralization

Socioeconomic factors– Many firms have left New York City for the suburbs

Claim it cost less to locate there Employees are happier and more productive

– Benefits of clustering in new suburban locations Industrial parks, where costs of utilities and transportation links

are shared by all occupants Real estate developments take advantage of clustering by

sharing costs of schools, parks, road improvement, and utilities New residents prefer a new development when they know a

full range of services is available nearby

Decentralization

Socioeconomic factors– First suburbs were “bedroom communities”

People commuted to jobs in downtown area Now people work in suburban industrial parks, etc.

– Lateral commuting — travel from one suburb to another

– Freeway congestion now goes both directions– Downtown areas today are faced with decay and

lack of investors

Public policy

At the national level, has contributed greatly to decentralization and abandonment of our cities

– Federal Highway Act of 1916 and Interstate Highway Act of 1956

Directed government spending on transportation to cars and trucks

Urban expressways, in combination with emerging trucking industry, led to massive decentralization of industry and housing

Ability to deduct mortgage interest from income for tax purposes favors individual home ownership

Public policy

At the national level, has contributed greatly to decentralization and abandonment of our cities– New Deal enactment of the Federal Housing

Administration in 1934, and the GI Bill of 1944 Meant to put people back to work in the building trades Also to help house returning soldiers after World War II What they did was insure long-term mortgages for home

construction and sale

Public policy


– Although FHA legislation contained no explicit antiurban bias, most houses it insured were located in new residential suburban developments

By setting particular terms for its insurance, the FHA favored development of single-family over multifamily projects

FHA-insured loans for repairs were short term and generally small

Public policy


– To receive a loan, applicant and neighborhood of the property were to be rated by an “unbiased professional”

Was intended to guarantee property value of house would be greater than the debt

Encouraged bias against any neighborhood considered a potential risk in terms of property values

FHA warned against neighborhoods with a racial mix, assuming such a social climate would bring property values down

Public policy


– Encouraged enactment of restrictive covenants written in property deeds prohibiting certain “undesirable” groups from buying property

– Prepared maps of metropolitan areas, depicting locations of African- American families and predicting their spread

Often served as the basis for red-lining, a practice in which banks and mortgage companies commonly demarcated areas considered to be high risk for loans

Red lines were often drawn around these areas

Public policy

United States Housing Act of 1937 was intended to provide public housing for those who could not afford private housing

– Did encourage construction of many low-income housing units– Most were built in the inner city– Contributed to view of suburbs as refuge of white middle class– Growing pattern of racial and economic segregation arose in part

because public housing decisions were left up to local municipalities

– Legislation required that for every unit of public housing built, one inferior housing unit had to be eliminated

This insured housing would be constructed in older, downtown areas

The costs of decentralization

Many urban problems in North American cities are direct products of the rapid decentralization in the last 30 years

– Vacant storefronts, empty offices, and deserted factories– Retail sales have steadily declined in central cities– Offices are finding advantages in suburban locations

Where rapid suburbanization has been the case, sprawl has usually resulted


A common pattern is leapfrog or checkerboard development– Housing tracts jump over parcels of farmland– Results in a mixture of open lands with built-up

areas– Results when developers buy cheaper land away

from built-up areas– Home buyers often pay premium prices for homes

in subdivisions surrounded by farmlands


A common pattern is leapfrog or checkerboard development

– Housing tracts jump over parcels of farmland– Results in a mixture of open lands with built-up areas– Results when developers buy cheaper land away from built-

up areas– Home buyers often pay premium prices for homes in

subdivisions surrounded by farmlands– More expensive to provide city services — police, fire

protection, sewers, and electrical lines


The most efficient development is adding new housing directly adjacent to built-up areas

Sprawl extracts high costs because of increased use of cars– Public transportation is very costly and inefficient when it must

serve a low- density checkerboard development pattern– Many cities and transit firms cannot extend line into these areas– This leave the car as the only form of transportation

More energy is consumed for fuel More air pollution is created by exhaust More time is spent in commuting and everyday activities than in a

centralized city


Loss of valuable land to urban development– Checkerboard farm parcels have a hard time

making ends meet– Usually taxed at extremely high rates because

land has high potential for development– Taxes eat up their resources– Usually end up selling out to subdividers– Leapfrog development goes on


Measures being taken by cities to curb sprawling growth– San Jose, California, is focusing new

development on empty parcels of the checkerboard pattern — called in filling

– Other cities are tying the number of building permits granted each year to availability of urban services

Gentrification

The movement of middle class people into deteriorated areas of city centers

– Often begins in an inner-city, rundown residential district– Lower property values make these areas more affordable

than suburban housing– Infusion of new capital in housing market results in higher

property values, resulting in displacement of residents who cannot afford to stay

– Displacement of some opens more housing for gentrification

Gentrification

Commercial gentrification usually follows residential– New patterns of consumption are introduced by

middle class people– Urban shopping malls and pedestrian shopping

corridors bring the conveniences of the suburbs into the city

– Bars and restaurants provide entertainment and nightlife

Waterfront Gentrification:San Diego, California


This “zone of discard” was San Diego’s infamous skid row and industrial waterfront. To encourage movement in and through this zone, a quaint shopping complex called Seaport Village, and a park and


marina were installed as part of the city’s larger revitalization plan. The project will incorporate residential units for all income levels, offices, hotels, retail shops, and recreational facilities. These landscape changes signify both deindustrialization and rise of the service sector.

Gentrification

Economic factors– As investments were made in the suburbs after

World War II, inner city land was devaluated– Inner city land became a better investment

spurring on gentrification process

Gentrification

Economic factors– Most Western countries have been experiencing a process

known as deindustriallzation A shift to the service sector leading to abandonment of older

industrial districts in the inner city Including the waterfront, many of these areas are prime targets

for gentrification Waterfront areas have been changed from noisy commercial

port areas into aesthetic assets The economic shift to the service sector also means new

productive areas will be dedicated to white-collar activities The city will be viewed as a more “liveable” environment

Gentrification

Social factors– Maturing of the baby-boom generation has led to

modifications of our “traditional” family structure and lifestyle Majority of women in the paid labor force Many couples choose not to have children or delay the

decision Gentrified location in the inner city is close to their managerial

or professional jobs downtown Easier to maintain and more interesting that bland suburbs

– Also a way of displaying social status– Inner cities frequently exploit their historical association as a

status symbol

Gentrification

Sexuality and gentrification– Gentrification of post-war period has provided gays and

lesbians with opportunity to actively and openly reshape entire neighborhoods

– Gays have seized an opportunity to combat oppression by creating neighborhoods over which they have maximum control and which meet long-neglected needs

– Limited numbers and types of lesbian spaces in cities also serve as community-building centers for lesbian social networks

– Gentrified neighborhood of Park Slope in Brooklyn is home to the “heaviest concentration of lesbians in the U.S.

Gentrification

The costs of gentrification– Success of a gentrification project usually

measured by its appeal to upper-class clientele Suggests they are completely homogeneous in their use

of land Residential areas are consciously planned to be

separate from commercial districts Sorted by cost and tenure type Often draws on suburban notion of residential

homogeneity and eliminates the diversity and heterogeneity of urban life

Gentrification and Adaptive Re-Use:Montreal, Quebec


Gentrification often requires condemnation and destruction of old structures. An alternative to this is “adaptive re-use” whereby a building is redesigned for alternate reuse.


This Monkland (a monastery is nearby) was an upscale theater in a pre-World War II suburb. A neighborhood in transition, decline is being arrested with revitalization. The theater has been transformed into a health club, with retail shops replacing the theater lobby.

Culture Regions


The urban ecosystem

There are four important concepts related to the ecosystem approach– Input

A city needs water to survive, so it imports a given amount each day

Water may come either from local sources, or from long distances via canals and aqueducts

The urban ecosystem

There are four important concepts related to the ecosystem approach

– Outputs Some water is consumed by people Other water becomes part of different manufactured products,

and may leave the city as exported goods Other water is used for industrial cooling and evaporates Most water — about 95 percent — is used to convey wastes

from one point to another From home to sewer plant, from factory to river, from sidewalk

to gutter — most troublesome aspect of urban system

The urban ecosystem

There are four important concepts related to the ecosystem approach

– A small amount of city water is not used, but stored for future use– Feedback

Crucial part of any system Repercussions on a system when an element is returned in modified

form by other components Example—city’s use of water from a lake both for its water supply and

as a dumping area for sewage Complicated though not conclusively proven example

– City-produced air pollution may alter weather patterns, straining water supply system

– May cause drought or flooding

The urban geologic environment

Topography can influence urban development in three ways– Direction of city growth– Patterning of social regions– Routing of transportation


Potential effect depends on a number of cultural variables– Society’s technological level– Capital available for modification of geologic environment– Stage in city’s development

Geologic environment may have a great effect on those cities in early stages of growth

– Spatial alternatives to expending energy and money on modifying terrain

– Where technology is lacking for bulldozing, landfill, or high-stress building construction

– In a rich, highly industrialized culture, far more examples of humans modifying the geologic environment are available


Ways topography might influence early stages of city growth– Cities usually expand first on areas where

building costs are lowest– Flat, well-drained land close to transportation and

adjacent to existing urban activities will be built on first

– Hills, marshes, and floodplains may be built on only in later stages of city growth


Results of increased site preparation —grading hills or draining swamps, etc.– May be passed on to consumer– Area will be occupied by higher-income groups– Lower-income groups may occupy the area

Lots may be smaller Houses may be undersized Shortcuts taken in construction methods producing a

finished product of lower quality


Topography can affect urban transportation systems– Close link between development and transportation– Horse-drawn streetcars can only be used on flat terrain– Starting in the 1890s, electric trolley systems profoundly

altered the pattern of urban development– The automobile led to widespread building on steep urban

slopes

Urban weather and climate

Cities alter just about all aspects of local weather and climate– Temperatures are higher– Rainfall increases– Incidence of fog and cloudiness is greater– Atmosphere pollution is much higher


How cities alter the climate– Large areas of pavement and buildings —about

50 percent is hard surface– Rainfall quickly carried into gutters and sewers– Little moisture left for the process of evaporative

cooling


Cities generate enormous amounts of heat– Comes from heating systems in buildings, autos,

industry, and human bodies– On a winter day in Manhattan, amount of heat

produced is two-and-one-half times that reaching the ground from the sun

– This generation of heat sitting over the city is called an urban heat island


Rain and snowfall are also affected by urbanization– Because of higher temperatures, snowfall will be about 5 percent

less– Rainfall can be 5 to 10 percent higher– Function of two factors– Large number of dust particles in urban air are necessary

precondition for condensation Rainfall increases near 10 percent have been documented

immediately downwind from cities Some have observed a pattern of reduced rainfall on weekends

because dust particle generation from autos and industry is reduced– Fog and clouds (dust domes) are usually more frequent around

cities


City-generated air pollution is one of the most serious problems of our times– Can cause serious illness, even death– Damages agriculture near cities– Unless halted, it may actually be the main limiting

factor on urban growth

Acid Damage: Vienna, Austria


Corrosive acid deposition occurs when sulfur and nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere from such sources as motor vehicles and smokestack industries.


This originally white, French Gothic Votivkirche (church) was built from 1856-1879.

The costly cleaning process has started with the 325’ steeples.

Urban hydrology

The city is a great consumer of water– Residential areas usually consume the most– Each residential person uses about 60 gallons per

day– Consumption is greater in drier climates, where

lots are larger, and in middle and higher-income neighborhoods

– Higher-income groups usually have a larger number of water-using appliances

Urban hydrology

When water price increases people use less, as was illustrated by periods of drought in the West

Urbanization seems to increase both the frequency and magnitude of flooding

– Creates large impervious areas where water cannot soak into the earth

– Precipitation is converted into immediate runoff —forced into gutters, sewers, and straightened stream channels bared of vegetation

– Time between rainfall and peak runoff is reduced in cities– In the countryside water runs across soil and vegetation into

stream channels and on into rivers

Urban vegetation

Studies show two-thirds of a typical North American city is comprised of trees and herbaceous plants

It affects city’s geology, hydrology, and meteorology – Affects quantity and quality of surface water and

groundwater– Reduces wind velocity, turbulence, and temperature

extremes– Affects pattern of snow accumulation and melting

Urban vegetation

It affects city’s geology, hydrology, and meteorology – Absorbs thousand of tons of airborne particulates and

atmospheric gases– Gives habitat for mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects– Masks out much of the city’s noise– Affects distribution of natural and artificial light– Extremely important in development of soil profiles, which

control hillside stability

Urban Vegetation: Oklahoma City


Inspired by Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei created a master redevelopment plan for OKC’s downtown in 1964. It includes landscaped hills, lakes, fountains, and a tropical, botanical garden within a glass-tubed bridge.


Urban vegetation affects the quantity and quality of ground water, reduces temperature extremes, dampens noise, and provides recreational space for people and habitat for wildlife. What ongoing costs are incurred by this project?

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